Suspension Brakes 1st Gen Most liked posts in thread: R53 Strut Brace Recommendations.....

Strut bars actually do very little for improving handling. Some give some protection from tower mushrooming, but a better choice for that would be some camber plates.

 

Oh Dave! You have an Alta antenna & M7 strut plates on your MINI??? Time for an intervention me thinks. :lol:

 

I'm not sorry I bought mine. But knowing what I do now I have to agree with our man Dave. O. If I can get a ride in the wayback machine I'll pass on it. :wink:

 

Check out the Ireland Engineering fixed camber plates.........better handling and tower reinforcment.

 

Strut bars are more hassle than the "gain" they advertise. First off, they stiffen the front of the car so much you will understeer, second, they get in the way if you want to do ANYTHING under the hood.

You are better off running camber plates with more negative camber, or Craven strut tower defenders. Both of these will aide in keeping the towers from mushrooming, but camber plates aren't for everyone, take what you plan on using the car for into consideration.

 

I agree completely. I'm sure that they add something, maybe a dose of the placebo effect. Like Scott says some of them help prevent strut top mushrooming. My MINI has had no mushrooming thanks to the strut-bar plate combination I have. If you look at the JCW bar it does not prevent mushroomed strut tops.

That is not true.

That is partially true.

 

Strut bar.... = Not worth a damn on an R53! Just for looks, and daym factor, in reality, all you are doing is putting a bar in the way.

 

True probably 98% of the time. Factors: (1)There are only a few designs that are built such that they actually *can* do much of anything structurally, and then it will only really matter if (2) the rest of the suspension package is tuned to the point that little bit of strut tower flex is discernible and (3) you're driving at a level that you can actually discern it.

There are at least 50x (100x?) more people who THINK they meet those three conditions, than who actually do.

 

It is one of those mods that does no harm. If ya want one go for it. Can't believe anyone could feel a difference in the seat of their pants. Must have a very sensitive butt if they can. :wink:

 

I carry extra weight after each meal. Works for me.

 

Check out the VIP Custom parts unit. Comes with strut tower proctector plates and strut bar. Have one my car and it fixed mushrooming towers, is extemely heavy duty and it looks really cool! You'll need to check on your fitment issues with CAI.

VIP Custom Parts Home Page

 

No experience with the Dinan bar, I have an M7 strut bar & plates. I like & it seems to do a decent job. That being said if I was to do this today I would buy the VIP strut bar. It is a very nice piece.

 

The JCW bar is about one of the best all around. I saw the Dinan on sale on their website for like 125.00 good deal but don't know how it compares.

 

Not worth buying at all.

Camber plates, good alignment, and strut tower plates is all you need.

My bike has a strut bar, it's called the handlebars.

 

I have an M7 strut bar and I only use the plates because that was the only part of the bar worth anything. I tossed that silly weak 4 piece bar a long time ago.

 

^Haha

 

Only thing's I have done to mine that you could actually feel the additional stiffness is (1) the TSW X-brace and (2) the AutoPower "Race" roll bar with the cross brace, and harness bar. Everything else I've tried has just been snake oil... I guess its ok if you like carrying the extra weight.

 

So........if Mini thought there was no issue with shock tower movement, why did they think they needed to install the braces on the convertibles? How would anyone know that strut braces don't do anything? Came across this diagram some time ago, comparing a Machpherson car to a double wishbone car, something to think about :idea:

With a machpherson strut, lateral loads go primarily through the lower A-arms, but because there is a moment about the hub, there is a smaller reactionary force going through the strut itself. That force can make the strut towers flex, making a strut tower bar helpful.

With a double-wishbone setup, lateral loads go primarily through the lower A-arms, but again there is a moment about the hub. However, with a double-wishbone design, the reactionary force to cancel this moment comes from the upper A-arms and not the strut. The strut itself is free to handle vertical forces. Since a strut tower bar only is effective in stiffening the tower against lateral loads and since the upper A-arms don't mount to the tower, stb's do very very little in these cars.